


Keflex

by fourshoesfrank



Category: Dark Tower - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Speech Apraxia, autistic roland deschain, disabled roland deschain, dont want to call it a vent fic bc it's not sad but it's in that same vein, gonna use that tag from now on as a catch all, takes place in the middle of book 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourshoesfrank/pseuds/fourshoesfrank
Summary: this is just me projecting about speech apraxia with a side helping of Roland's functional illiteracy. enjoy
Relationships: Eddie Dean & Roland Deschain, Jake Chambers & Roland Deschain, Susannah Dean & Roland Deschain
Kudos: 6





	Keflex

**Author's Note:**

> what's up guys it's tony bringing you the disability and linguistics content nobody asked for but everybody will love (i hope). thankee!

"Chetfleck."

" _Keflex_ _._ Starts with a K, kuh-eflex. Try again, man, you almost got it."

"K... Kletchfets."

A sigh. "No."

-

"Klefchecks."

"Nah, nah; listen.  Keflex ."

A pause, then, "Chetkleckst."

"Way too many consonants. You could sell em, call it Roland's Consonatorium Emporium."

"...I'm not even going to attempt that one."

-

"Fleflech." Even as he said it, the gunslinger winced at his own mouth's clumsiness. 

"Uh... Not even close, my man. Let's try again. Keflex."

"Teftesk." 

"Where the hell are you getting the T from?"

-

Roland took a deep breath and tried to listen to Eddie's rambling attempts to teach him. His efforts were touching, but both of them knew that he wasn't really helping. Roland's mouth simply refused to cooperate. 

"Ske...fletch..."

"Listen, Roland, buddy. Methinks ya might wanna take a break, let the ol' motormouth cool down a little. Yeah?" Eddie suggested. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and waited for the gunslinger to dig his heels in and demand to try again, but Roland said nothing. He simply stared at the now-empty box that Eddie was holding, narrowing his eyes as they flicked back and forth on each letter of the big pink K-E-F-L-E-X on the front. 

A thought dawned on Eddie. "So, these aren't anything like your Great Letters, right?" he asked, tracing his hands over the letters almost totally in sync with the gunslinger's eye movements. Roland squinted slightly, then shook his head in response to Eddie's question. 

That explained a lot, and it also explained why they weren't getting anywhere with the whole "sound it out" deal. Roland didn't know what sounds all the English letters made. 

"...Klefet."

Oh boy, they were back to this. Eddie's hair flew about his face as he shook his head quickly. "Nah, let's call it quits," he insisted, standing up and waiting for the gunslinger to do the same beside him. Roland did stand, but he clearly wasn't ready to call it quits. His lips still moved, mouthing different versions of the word  _Keflex_ over and over. 

-

"Flektecks."

This time, it was Jake who corrected the gunslinger's pronunciation. "Keflex, Roland," he said, trying to enunciate clearly. It was dinner time, and the four of them were sitting in a circle around the fire that the gunslinger had built. Everyone had finished their gunslinger burritos by now, but none of them was ready to go to sleep just yet. 

Roland wanted to keep learning how to say words from New York, like _Keflex_ and _aspirin_ and _pushover._ Nobody had anything better to do, so instead of giving Eddie and Roland some space, Jake and Susannah had scooted closer to them. They all took turns offering the gunslinger various slang terms from their whens, as well as different brand names. Jake even threw in a few French words, much to Eddie's chagrin. 

Roland was still fixated on Keflex, though. Something about the word, the way the consonants and vowels lined up, just didn't compute for him. 

"Kefess," he tried again. Across the fire, Eddie grinned and gave the gunslinger a proud thumbs up. 

"That was so close! So fuckin' close! Just throw a few more sounds in there and you're home free!" he encouraged. Roland nodded slowly as he took a deep breath to prepare himself to try again. 

Eddie drew his own breath to say something else, a real zinger, but Susannah shook her head slightly. "You'll make him nervous, sugar," she argued. Eddie privately disagreed, didn't think that Roland could even  _conceive_ of something like nerves, but he held his tongue. 

"Cheflex."

Eddie made  tsked and said, "Better luck next time," ignoring the way that Roland's micro-expression changed from one of concentration to shame. Now was not the time to drag the heavy stuff out into the open, so Eddie announced his intent to hit the hay instead and that was that. Susannah curled up next to Eddie and buried her face in the crook of his neck, Jake set down his hides and zonked out within minutes, and Roland lay down on the ground close to the fire and stared straight ahead, barely blinking. 

Eddie left it alone. The gunslinger would deal with it when he was ready. 

**Author's Note:**

> basic premise: roland has trouble pronouncing things. this is a sign of verbal apraxia. i have developmental verbal apraxia. i like roland a lot. i should write something where he has this speech disorder. (pronouncing everything correctly is HARD. i pity roland being presented with all these brand names that he can barely READ and being surrounded by ppl who've been saying these word their whole lives lol)
> 
> hope you guys liked this! while we're on the topic of communication/speech disorders and differences, listen to nonspeaking autistic voices about The Sia Thing. leave a comment/kudos maybe!


End file.
